Soul Limbo Explained

Soul Limbo
Type:Album
Artist:Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Cover:SoulLimbo_BookerTalbum.jpg
Released:September 1968
Recorded:1968
Studio:Stax Recording Studio, Memphis
Genre:R&B, instrumental rock
Length:39:21
Label:Stax
Producer:Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Prev Title:Doin' Our Thing
Prev Year:1968
Next Title:Up Tight
Next Year:1969

Soul Limbo is the seventh studio album by the American R&B band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in 1968 on Stax Records. The album was the first Stax LP issued after the label severed its ties with former distributor Atlantic Records in 1968.

The title track is perhaps best known in the UK as the theme tune for BBC Television's cricket coverage and later for Test Match Special. It features a marimba solo by Terry Manning and cowbell by Isaac Hayes. The song was later covered by the English punk band Snuff. It references the Trinidadian dance and game The Limbo, which had a surge of popularity in the United States starting in the mid-1950s. The song makes use of a common chord progression that was featured in such 1950s and 1960s hits as "La Bamba", "Louie Louie", and "Wild Thing".

The album also features the group's hit version of the title theme from the film Hang 'Em High.[1]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" (J.R. Cobb, Ray Whitley)
  2. "La-La (Means I Love You)" (Thom Bell, William Hart)
  3. "Hang 'Em High" (Dominic Frontiere)
  4. "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell)
  5. "Over Easy" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s)
  6. "Soul Limbo" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s)

Side two

  1. "Eleanor Rigby" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
  2. "Heads or Tails" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s)
  3. "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" (Aretha Franklin, Teddy White)
  4. "Born Under a Bad Sign" (William Bell, Booker T. Jones)
  5. "Foxy Lady" (Jimi Hendrix)

Personnel

Booker T. & the M.G.s

with:

Notes and References

  1. Galloway, A. Scott (1994). Rock Instrumental Classics Volume 4: Soul (p. 14) [CD booklet]. Los Angeles: Rhino Records.